Text 11. ​PYTHAGORAS*

1. Read the article and say in 2—3 sentences what it is about.

Pythagoras1 is often described as a very important mathematician, yet we know little about his achievements. What we do know is that he was the leader of a society which was half scientific and half religious. It was a secret society and today Pythagoras is still a mysterious figure.

​It is believed that Pythagoras was born on the Greek island of Samos. His father was a merchant, and as a child, Pythagoras travelled with him selling their goods. Pythagoras was well educated. He learned music and poetry and had three philosophers to teach him who introduced Pythagoras to mathematics and advised him to travel to Egypt to learn more about mathematics and astronomy. So in 535 BC, Pythagoras travelled to Egypt where he visited many temples and took part in discussions with priests. Many of the customs he learnt in Egypt he came to adopt. For example, the Egyptian priests refused to eat beans and wear animal skins, as did Pythagoras later in his life.

In 525 BC the King of Persia invaded Egypt. Pythagoras was taken prisoner and was transported to Babylon. It was here, taught by the Babylonians, that he reached perfection in arithmetic and music. When Pythagoras returned to Samos he founded there a school which was called ‘The Semicircle’. It seems that the people of Samos did not appreciate the teaching methods of Pythagoras and they treated him rudely and improperly. Furthermore, they wanted to involve Pythagoras in local politics against his will. For these reasons, he went to Italy.

Pythagoras believed that numbers rule the universe and that numbers are present in all things. He also connected mathematics to music and recognized the healing power of music. He used it as a kind of therapy to help those who were ill. Another of his beliefs was that there are three types of men: those who love wisdom, those who love honour and those who love wealth.

Pythagoras was a mathematician, an astronomer, and a philosopher. Today we remember him best for his famous geometry theorem, known as Pythagoras’ theorem.2__________1 Pythagoras [paɪˈθæɡərəs] Пифагор2 Pythagoras’ theorem [paɪˈθæɡərəsɪz ˈθɪərəm] теорема Пифагора

2. Where did Pythagoras go to learn mathematics and astronomy? Read aloud the extract which says about it.3. Why did Pythagoras go to Italy?4. What are the three types of men according to Pythagoras?

Q1

The text is about Pythagoras whom we remember today for his famous geometry theorem. Pythagoras was a mathematiсian, an astronomer and a philisopher. The text describes Pythagoras' life and beliefs.

Q2

2. ... Pythogaras was .... his life.

Q3

Pythagoras went to Italy to escape from the people of Samos who didn't like his teaching methods, treated him rudely and improperly and wanted to involve him in local politics against his will.

Q4

According to Pythagoras, there are three types of men: those who love wisdom, those who love honour and those who love wealth.

II. Listen to the interview taken by the “Youth Magazine” with Mr Ron Cansler and answer the questions below.1. How old is Mr Cansler?2. What helped him to stay healthy?3. What does he recommend listeners should do?

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Q1

He will be one hundred in two weeks.

Q2

2. When he was young he had no idea what a healthy diet was. He was happy if he had enough to eat, his work on the farm was hard and he spent all day outdoors.